All posts tagged NYNews

A new Rasmussen poll shows Democrat Andrew Cuomo leading Republican Carl Paladino 54% to 38% among likely voters in the race to become the next New York governor.

The poll found a gap in the two candidates’ favorability ratings, with 46% viewing Paladino “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable,” while 59% viewing Cuomo that way. Their unfavorable ratings were about even – 38% for Paladino and 35% for Cuomo. But Paladino has some room to change that: 15% said they were unsure of what to think about the outspoken developer from Buffalo, while 5% were not sure about Cuomo. The poll’s margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

Paladino, in an interview on Fox News today, said he’s not about to soften his no-holds-barred approach – he recently called former GOP Gov. George Patakia “degenerate idiot,” and has said that New York state lawmakers “don’t have a brain in their heads.” Last week, the New York Daily News ran a front-page headline, “Meet Crazy Carl!”

Carl Paladino, New York state GOP gubernatorial candidate, speaks at the Buffalo Yacht Club Thursday, Sept. 16. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

“I’m not intimidated, you know, I’m not politically correct,” Paladino said. “The [media] can throw all that stuff that they want at me, I’m still coming to Albany and going to take them all down, you know.”

He also said he stands for change, while Cuomo, the state’s attorney general, “wants more the status quo. He is status Cuomo.” Read More »

Move aside, Michael Bloomberg. California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has just surpassed your record in personal spending on an election.

After giving her campaign another $15 million Tuesday, the Republican former eBay Inc. chief executive has now spent $119 million in the Golden State race. (You can view her campaign-finance records here.) Bloomberg spent $110 million of his own money to win a third term as New York City’s mayor last year.

Whitman’s Democratic opponent, former California governor and current state attorney general Jerry Brown, has attacked the Republican’s lavishness. Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford said Whitman is running a campaign that believes “money can make up for truth or fresh ideas.”

“She’s going to set the record for most money spent in a losing campaign,” Clifford said.

Whitman spokeswoman Andrea Rivera defended the spending. “Meg has said she will spend what it takes to get her message out to the people of California,” Rivera said, adding that Brown is “bought and paid for by the unions” who have aided his campaign since the primary election.

When asked if the mayor’s office had comment, a Bloomberg spokesman said, “No.”

The Republican gubernatorial primary in New York is now a dead heat, according to anew Siena Research Institute poll, with tea party favorite Carl Paladino pulling even with former Rep. Rick Lazio, ahead of Tuesday’s voting. They are battling for the chance to face the heavily favored Democrat Andrew Cuomo in November.

It’s another sign of strength for the tea party movement, whose candidates have unseated establishment figures in more conservative states and who now appear to be surging in more moderate states such as New York. In Delaware, another poll found tea party favorite Christine O’Donnell is running even with Rep. Mike Castle, the establishment candidate long favored for the GOP Senate nomination.

In the New York primary, Paladino, a Buffalo developer, was favored by 42% of Republican compared with 43% for Lazio, according to the new survey. The telephone poll of 610 likely Republican voters had a margin of four percentage points, making the race a statistical tie. Fifteen percent said they were undecided.

That represents a surge of support of Paladino, who trailed by double digits through the summer. His candidacy was not taken seriously by many at first, but he’s climbed in the polls by pushing plans to cut spending and taxes, and promising to stop the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near ground zero in New York City… Read More »

Former President Bill Clinton appears at a rally in support of first-term Democratic Rep. Mike McMahon, Friday, on Staten Island in New York. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

Today, he was on Staten Island, campaigning for first-term Democrat Rep. Mike McMahon. And next week, he’ll be campaigning in his home state of Arkansas for Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate. In June, Clinton had helped her face down a primary challenge on the left from Democratic Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.

The Associated Press reports that on Staten Island, the most Republican of New York City’s five boroughs, Clinton emphasized McMahon’s independent approach, voting against the health-care overhaul yet supporting the economic stimulus bill. And Clinton touted his own record, saying he left office with a fat budget surplus.

Among the handicappers, Cook Political Report rates the McMahon race “Lean Democratic” while the Rothenberg Political Report says it is “Favored” for the Democrat. Still, the district went for Sen. John McCain in 2008, and McMahon benefited from disarray among local Republicans that year. Former Rep. Vito Fossella, who previously held the seat, dropped plans for a re-election bid after a DUI arrest led to the discovery he was leading a double life, complete with a child. The GOP’s next candidate died during the campaign. Read More »

The latest Quinnipiac poll in New York shows Andrew Cuomo well ahead of his Republican rivals in the governor’s race, and Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, once thought to be among the vulnerable incumbents this year, the clear frontrunner in her contest.Cuomo, the state’s attorney general, leads former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio 57% to 25%, and Carl Paladino, an independent candidate, 60% to 23%, the poll found. That’s well outside the poll’s 2.5 percentage point margin of error.

Cuomo’s approval and favorability ratings are also strong: 69% approve of the job he is doing as attorney general, and 54% view him favorably. In contrast, 24% view Lazio favorably, while 49% say they don’t know enough about him to form any opinion. It’s worse for Paladino: 70% say they don’t know enough about him… Read More »

The issue of whether a mosque should be built near Ground Zero isn’t going away just because the New York City Landmarks Commission has refused to stop the demolition of a 152-year-old building to make way for the 13-story Islamic community center.

And the issue reveals a split between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and two of his longtime political allies. Bloomberg offered a lengthy defense of the project Tuesday, citing the history of religious discrimination in the city dating back to its Dutch founders and arguing the mosque plan symbolizes the best traditions in a city of immigrants.

That did not hold sway with Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

The Connecticut lawmaker wants the project halted “until there is further evaluation of its impact on the families and friends of victims of the 9-11 attacks, the intention of the center’s sponsors, and their sources of funding,’’ said the senator’s spokesman, Marshall Wittmann.

Rep. Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, and another ally of the mayor’s, called for further inquiries into the finances of the proposed Islamic center.

“We must focus our efforts on obtaining a full investigation of the $100 million mosque. Who is giving the money? Where is it coming from?’’ said King.

Rangel, a New York Democrat first elected to the House four decades ago, is being charged with ethics abuses by the Democratic-run ethics committee as part of a promise by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington.

But an obscure group of Republicans could play the biggest role in the resolution of the case. Those Republicans are the five GOP members of the House ethics committee: Reps. Jo Bonner of Alabama, Mike Conaway of Texas, Charles Dent of Pennsylvania, Gregg Harper of Mississippi and Michael McCaul of Texas.

Washington Wire reported earlier today on former Rep. Rob Simmons‘s decision to jump back in to the Connecticut Senate race after suspending his campaign in May.

With just two weeks to go before the Aug. 10 Republican primary, Simmons said he’s not fund-raising but that he’ll be reminding voters of his place on the ballot while taking part in editorial boards and GOP debates.

Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy said Simmons’s bid is “a very inventive way to earn media” but questioned its ultimate success because “ultimately you have to ask voters for a vote.”

Washington Wire caught up with Rob Simmons to figure out what he’s thinking.

Q: I read that last night you declared at the debate you were running. What’s going on? Are you in or out?

A: I’ve been on the ballot since I suspended my campaign. What I did do after the convention was I curtailed my campaign, scaled back the campaign activities. As I stated at the time, I did not want to involve myself or my supporters in what I considered to be an expensive or a divisive primary. And I wanted to devote my time and energy to helping other candidates raise money and helping them get organized and so on and so forth.

And all that’s been done, but what has occurred, and especially in recent weeks is that long-time supporters, people I have worked with over the years, have said, “Hey, you’re on the ballot. People don’t know you’re on the ballot. They’re thinking of writing you in. Some people think you should do a third-party candidacy. We want to have a choice in this race.”

And so I’ve made the decision to let people know that I’m on the ballot and let them know what I believe and what I think is important in a positive way with a positive statement and a positive advertisement. And I think that’s a fair thing to do under the circumstances. I think it reflects my loyalty to my constituents, my staff, my family, and my supporters and at the same time it’s not divisive and it’s certainly not expensive. Read More »

Rep. Michael McMahon (D., N.Y.) said in an interview today that he will vote against the financial overhaul bill if a section that could require banks to spin off their derivatives businesses isn’t changed immediately.

“It would be impossible for me to vote for a bill that contains that provision,” he said.

McMahon’s threat underscores New York Democrats’ hostility toward the provision, known as “716” and inserted by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.). He said New York Democrats are discussing what they should do, and that others appeared to also be weighing voting against the bill.

“This may cause the whole bill to fail,” McMahon said. He said there needed to be new regulation of derivatives but “we’re not going to force the whole industry to go to Singapore and Zurich.”

The House bill passed by just 21 votes in December; if only 11 lawmakers who originally supported the bill switched to “no” votes, the bill could die on the House floor.

House and Senate Democratic leaders plan to finish negotiating the financial overhaul bill today, and the derivatives section is up for debate in the afternoon. Read More »

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Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.